                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

CALCULATION OF STATE GENERAL FUND SHARE OF AN INSTITUTION&#8217;S BASIC
OPERATIONS AND INSTRUCTION FUNDING NEED; COST OF EDUCATION (§ 23.1-303)

A. Following consultation with each public institution of higher education and
the Higher Education Advisory Committee described in &#xA7; 23.1-309, the
Council shall calculate the basic operations and instruction funding need of
each public institution of higher education as provided in subsection B for each
year of the next biennium and make such calculation available to the Governor,
the General Assembly, and all public institutions of higher education. The
Governor shall take into account each institution&#8217;s basic operations and
instruction funding need and the Commonwealth&#8217;s funding split policy
established in the general appropriation act by which 67 percent of an
institution&#8217;s cost of education for Virginia students is funded from the
state general fund and 33 percent from funds other than the state general fund
during the preparation of his proposed biennial budget bill for the next
biennium, and the General Assembly shall take such items into account in
enacting the general appropriation act for the next biennium. Between such
biennial recalculations, the General Assembly may increase or decrease the
appropriation of basic operations and instruction funding to a public
institution of higher education to correspond with an increase or decrease in
Virginia undergraduate student enrollment at the institution as provided in
&#xA7; 23.1-304, or the institution&#8217;s meeting or not meeting targeted
financial incentives listed in &#xA7; 23.1-305, or for any other purpose deemed
appropriate by the General Assembly.

B. The basic operations and instruction funding need of each public institution
of higher education for each fiscal year of the biennium shall consist of the
sum of (i) the institution&#8217;s cost of education for the total enrollment in
actual attendance during the fiscal year that ended on June 30 of each
odd-numbered year, which shall be determined using a cost-based funding policy
that consists of (a) a set of formulas for calculating (1) educational cost
based on faculty-student ratios by discipline and level and (2) the educational
and general programs of instruction, academic support, student services,
institutional support, and operation and maintenance of physical plant and (b)
adjustments based on particular state policies or specific institutional
missions or conditions; (ii) the amount required to reach the
Commonwealth&#8217;s faculty salary goal of the 60th percentile of the most
recently reported average faculty salaries paid by that institution&#8217;s peer
institutions as established in the general appropriation act; and (iii) such
other funding for educational and general services as the General Assembly may
appropriate.

C. State general funds shall be allocated and appropriated to public
institutions of higher education in a fair and equitable manner such that, to
the extent practicable, the percentage of the cost of education for Virginia
students enrolled at an institution to be funded from state general funds is the
same for each institution. To the extent that the percentages differ among
institutions, that fact shall be taken into account as the Governor deems
appropriate in his proposed biennial budget bill and by the General Assembly as
it deems appropriate in the general appropriation act.

HISTORY: 2011, cc. 828, 869, § 23-38.87:13; 2016, c. 588.